McCaffery: Out with the old, in with the...old?

PHILADELPHIA --- Michael Vick and Nick Foles shared the Eagles’ quarterback duties last season and lost three times more often than they won.

Vick was sloppy and brittle and overwhelmed. Foles was slow and slower and overwhelmed. They turned over the ball, kept the trainers steep in overtime pay and did nothing to preserve Andy Reid’s job. Had the two of them run out of the NewsControl Compound together, as if bound for a three-legged race, Eagles fans would have lined Pattison Ave. to jingle cowbells, imploring them to pick up the pace.

That’s what they did when Reid left. And when Chip Kelly came in, they used those same noisemakers to celebrate. That’s because while there were no promises of success, there was at least the breeze of change. And with the most innovative offensive mind in an ever-evolving industry, at least the Eagles would have a chance to stitch new replica jerseys, with a new quarterback’s name on the back, and a new number.

Now, fans will be forced to sneak back into the Linc clad in one of two tattered models from last year, that being the message Monday when Kelly revealed his plan to use Vick and Foles, or to use Foles and Vick, depending on the down and distance.

“I guess the best way I can put this is, I agree, there is a change of scenery going on here,” Kelly said. “For Michael Vick, there is a change of scenery, but not a change of address.”

Kelly could have said that Vick was his ultimate weapon, the future of football and not the past, a star then, a star now, a star forever. Or he might have boasted that Foles was thick in the next class of great NFL quarterbacks, and for emphasis, could have reduced his name to two initials and a crooked number, the way they do in Washington.

Instead, he did neither, promising only that they would split the reps in minicamp, in alphabetical order. And with a sly and almost friendly grin, he even refused to say whether that would be based on the last name or the first.

“We’re not ruling out anything right now,” Kelly said. “I think our job --- from Day 1 --- is to put the best team on the field when we open up the season. So I don’t rule anything out and I don’t rule anything in. But I know moving forward that we, as an organization, had to make a decision what to do with Michael. And I want Michael to be part of this team.”

The Eagles could have used their next draft choice, No. 4 overall, for a fresh-start quarterback. Instead, they muscled the oft-injured Vick into absorbing a salary hit and staying with them for one more year. If that works, Kelly can credit his own offense and bow while he accepts the Coach of the Year certificate. If it flops, he can shrug that he was forced to microwave leftovers, and re-set his own NFL odometer to 0. It is good business, if not great football.

“They’re both going to compete,” Kelly said. “And who the starting quarterback is to start the season off is going to be won on the practice field.”

So that’s Kelly’s plan, born from the reality that there would be no invigorating alternative. He will run an offense without a particular identity and army-golf his way to success, one hack at it at a time.

At least his revelation came with a certain openness, something that had been on back-order around there since the last century.

“They are going to be learning,” said Bill Lazor, Kelly’s new quarterbacks coach. “And if they love football and the specifics of how to play quarterback and what the techniques are and how you study and how you learn, then they are going to have a blast. And if we’re all having fun and we’re all having success, we’re all going to be smiling.”

Vick could stay healthy. Foles could benefit from unscheduled experience. Kelly’s playbook should be refreshing. And if they go better than 4-12, yes, there will be smiles. Some, anyway.